In recent years, a movement has gained traction to replace incandescent light bulbs with solid-state lighting devices that employ more efficient lighting technologies. One such technology that shows tremendous promise employs light emitting diodes (LEDs). Compared with incandescent bulbs, LED lighting devices are much more efficient at converting electrical energy into light and are longer lasting. As a result, lighting fixtures that employ LED technologies are expected to eventually replace incandescent bulbs in residential, commercial, and industrial applications.
The growing popularity of LED lighting products has resulted in a large number of both LED lighting devices and LED lighting power supplies on the market. Generally, an LED lighting device includes a fixture designed around one or more LEDs, while an LED lighting power supply provides power to the LED lighting device. Current LED lighting devices are generally designed specifically for a single LED lighting power supply, resulting in incompatibility between different product lines and brands. Accordingly, there is currently very little flexibility provided to LED lighting consumers.
Additionally, while LED lighting devices offer efficiency and longevity improvements over their incandescent counterparts, LED lighting devices may also behave differently than incandescent bulbs. For example, the color temperature of the light emitted by an LED lighting device may be substantially different from that emitted by an incandescent bulb. The difference in behavior between incandescent bulbs and LED lighting devices may upset consumer expectations, thereby slowing the adoption of LED lighting products.
Accordingly, an LED lighting device is needed that is compatible with multiple LED lighting power supplies and capable of more closely imitating the characteristics of an incandescent bulb.